Front binding for gliding-sports device

ABSTRACT

The front binding ( 1 ) comprises two jaws ( 5   a   , 5   b ) holding a boot vertically and laterally by means of their actions on the sole of the boot and articulated on a carriage ( 4 ) that is movable in translation between two extreme positions in which the action of the carriage ( 4 ) on release means gives rise to the release of the boot by rocking of one or other of the jaws ( 5   a   , 5   b ). The carriage ( 4 ) is returned to an intermediate position by an elastic means. The binding is noteworthy in that the rocking pins of the jaws ( 5   a   , 5   b ) are parallel to the longitudinal axis of the binding. The binding makes it possible to hold a boot having a sole that makes it easier for the user to walk.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention relates to a front binding of a glidingdevice defined in the preamble of claim 1.

Prior Art

[0002] Gliding sports involve contradictory stresses involving thestructure of boots. On the one hand, they have to have rigid elementsallowing the user to guide the gliding device with precision and to feelthe response of the device to the forces he exerts. On the other hand,they have to have flexible elements to guarantee the user's comfort.

[0003] For practicing gliding sports, such as snowboarding, in which itis possible to connect the boot to the gliding device by means ofstraps, it is possible to produce boot soles that are flexible in orderto improve the user's walking comfort. Such soles absorb shocks due tothe contact of the boot on the ground upon each step. They alsofacilitate the gripping of the boot on the ground by means of theirdeformation.

[0004] When boots are connected to the gliding-sports devices via thefront and the rear of the sole, as is the case with traditionalalpine-ski bindings, the sole has to be rigid. In order to improvewalking comfort, it is known to attach, to the front and to the rear ofthe sole, additional elements made from a flexible material. However,the standard defining the characteristics with which the boots have tocomply in the case of these conventional bindings requires the presence,at the front and at the rear of these boots, of zones that have to havea high level of hardness and a low friction coefficient relative to thebinding in order to make the binding easy to enter and to release theboot properly in the event of a fall.

[0005] Patents FR 2 788 443, the content of which is incorporated byreference and FR 2 418 657, the content of which is incorporated byreference disclose a gliding-board binding comprising essentially achassis integral with the board for gliding, and two jaws for holdingthe boot that have the form of levers articulated about longitudinalpins and each returned to a position of balance, holding a boot on theboard for gliding. These levers penetrate housings made on either sideof the sole of the boot. A lever makes it possible to influence the twolateral jaws against the action of a spring in order to allow voluntaryrelease. The holding jaws and the housings made in the sole of the boothave forms allowing release in the event of a forward fall, a rearwardfall or a twisting of the foot.

[0006] These embodiments reduce the length of the sole of the boot,which no longer needs standard curbs at the rear, and thus facilitatewalking. Furthermore, they allow the production of a sole composedprincipally of flexible materials and having a form that facilitatesrolling of the foot during walking.

[0007] By virtue of such systems, it is no longer necessary to provide ablock, between the upper surface of the board for gliding and the soleof the boot, to enhance skiing with parabolic skis. This is because thesprings and other components required for the operation of such bindingsare placed under the sole of the boot and substantially raise itrelative to the upper surface of the board for gliding.

[0008] U.S. Pat. No. 4,930,802, the content of which is incorporated byreference, discloses a front alpine-ski binding having two arms forbearing on the front curb of the sole of a standard ski boot in order tohold it vertically and laterally. The two arms are articulated aboutvertical pins and pivot, under certain conditions, about said pins inorder to allow the boot to be released in the event of a fall. These twoarms are connected to a carriage that can be displaced in a circulartranslational movement between two extreme positions in which the rightarm or the left arm is allowed to pivot in order to release the boot.The carriage is returned by an elastic means to an intermediate positionbetween these two extreme positions in which pivoting of the arms isprevented.

[0009] Such bindings present drawbacks. The safety release of the firsttwo bindings is achieved by means of the interaction of slopes formed inthe sole of the boot and on the binding. The slopes produced in thesoles of the boots are exposed to external wear and tear, which risksdamaging them or modifying their surface condition and modifying therelease stiffnesses.

[0010] The latter binding is designed to operate with standard-soleboots. They consequently allow only very little modification of formsand materials to enhance walking comfort.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0011] The object of the invention is to produce a front binding of agliding device that improves existing front bindings and attenuates thedrawbacks previously cited. In particular, the invention proposesproducing a front binding for a gliding device that can hold a boothaving a sole that facilitates the user's walking.

[0012] The front binding of a gliding device according to the inventionis noteworthy in that the rocking pins of the jaws are parallel to thelongitudinal axis of the binding.

[0013] Indeed, such jaws make it possible to hold the front of the booton these sides and to produce boot soles with a non-standard front partthat, owing to its geometry, facilitates walking.

[0014] Dependent claims 2 to 11 define different embodiments of thebinding.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0015] The appended drawing shows, by way of non-limiting example, anembodiment of the front binding according to the invention.

[0016]FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the front binding according to theinvention.

[0017]FIG. 2 is an expanded perspective view of the front bindingaccording to the invention.

[0018]FIG. 3 is a view, in longitudinal section, of the front binding onIII-III in FIG. 1.

[0019]FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the carriage of the bindingaccording to the invention.

[0020]FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the piston of the bindingaccording to the invention.

[0021]FIG. 6 is a plan view of the binding shown without the chassis.

[0022]FIG. 7 is a view, in transverse section, of the binding on VII-VIIin FIG. 3, the carriage being in its intermediate position.

[0023]FIG. 8 is a view similar to FIG. 6, the carriage being shown inone of these extreme positions.

[0024]FIG. 9 is a view similar to FIG. 7, the carriage being shown inone of its extreme positions.

[0025]FIG. 10 is a view similar to FIG. 9, one of the jaws being shownafter it has rocked.

[0026]FIG. 11 is a sectional view similar to FIG. 3, the carriage beingshown after it has pivoted in the event of a rearward fall.

[0027]FIG. 12 is a perspective view of the front binding holding a boot.

[0028]FIG. 13 is a view, in transverse section, of the binding and ofthe boot on XIII-XIII in FIG. 12.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0029] The front binding 1 of an alpine ski shown in FIGS. 1, 2, and 3is designed for fixing on a ski (not shown) and for interacting with arear binding, such as a conventional heelpiece binding, in order toconnect it to a boot. Consequently, it has to hold the front of the bootvertically and laterally and form a front stop for the boot.

[0030] The front binding 1 comprises principally a chassis 2 in which ismounted, so as to be transversely movable, a carriage 4 carrying jaws 5a and 5 b bearing on forms made in the sole of the boot in order to holdit. As shown in FIG. 10, these jaws are able to rock about horizontalpins 32 a and 32 b, respectively, in order to release the boot when thecarriage reaches one or the other of its extreme positions. As shown inFIG. 11, the carriage 4 is articulated about a transverse pin 35 inorder to release the boot when the front of the latter rises during arearward fall.

[0031] As shown in FIG. 6, at the front end of the binding 1, two arms 6a and 6 b that are symmetric relative to the longitudinal axis of theski are articulated on the chassis 2 about two vertical pins 34 a and 34b. These two arms are articulated at their other ends on a support 11about two pins 33 a and 33 b that are vertical and symmetric relative tothe axis of the ski. These two arms are streamlined by means of a frontcover 12.

[0032] The carriage 4 is connected to this support 11 about thetransverse pin 35. The assembly formed by the support 11 and thecarriage 4 is thus movable relative to the chassis 2 or to the ski in acircular translational movement that will be similar, given the smallamplitude of this movement during the operation of release of thebinding, to a transverse translational movement.

[0033] The arms 5 a and 5 b are articulated on the carriage 4 aboutlongitudinal pins 32 a and 32 b such that when they rock in order torelease the boot they can withdraw completely, i.e. they can be locatedentirely below the upper surface of the chassis 2.

[0034] A rocker 7 is articulated on the carriage 4 about pin 31 betweenthe articulation pins of the jaws. The rocker has convex stops 41 a and41 b having the form of cylindrical surfaces of pin 31 interacting withthe ends 40 a and 40 b of the jaws having concave complementary surfacesin order to prevent their rocking and to allow the rocking of the rockerwhen the carriage 4 is in its intermediate position shown in FIG. 7.

[0035] The jaws 5 a and 5 b have, respectively, convex cylindricalsurfaces 42 a and 42 b of pin 32 a and 32 b interacting with concavecomplementary surfaces 43 a and 43 b made on the rocker 7 in order toallow the rocking of the jaws 5 a and 5 b when the rocker is rocked.

[0036] The rocker also has two lower tabs 9 a and 9 b interacting with astop 8 integral with the chassis 2.

[0037] In its rear part, the carriage 4 has a male V made by two slopes20 a and 20 b interacting with a female V made by two slopes 21 a and 21b formed on the front part of a piston 3 that can move in translation ina guide 30 made in the chassis 2. These two Vs have, respectively, inthe direction of their axis, a complementary taper and counter-taper.The piston 3 has a substantially rectangular section enabling it to betranslated in the guide 30, which has a complementary cross section. Thepiston is subject to the action of two compression springs 16 a and 16b, acts against the carriage 4, and therefore allows, by means of thecontact forces from the piston 3 on the carriage 4, the carriage toreturn to its intermediate position shown in FIG. 1.

[0038] As shown in FIG. 6, the two springs 16 a and 16 b bear on a stop13, the axial position of which may be adjusted by the transversepositioning of a wedge 14 that can be displaced by a screw 15 inpivoting connection with the chassis 2 and screwed into the wedge 14.The various positions that this stop 13 may occupy make it possible toadjust the binding's safety release stiffness.

[0039] A small plate 50 with a low friction coefficient relative to thesole of the boot is fixed on the upper face of the chassis of thebinding. This makes it possible to guarantee quality entering into andwithdrawing from the binding.

[0040] In the event of the safety release of the binding owing to thefoot being twisted relative to the ski about the axis of the leg, thefront end of the boot 60 is displaced laterally by sliding over thesmall plate 50. As shown in FIG. 8, this displacement gives rise to thedisplacement of the support 11, carriage 4, and jaws 5 a and 5 bassembly through the action of the boot 60 on the jaws 5 a and 5 b. Thisdisplacement takes place against the action of the piston 3 on thecarriage 4, which, subject to the forces of the springs 16 a and 16 b,exerts an action of contact of its face 21 b on the face 20 b of thecarriage, tending to bring the carriage into its intermediate positionshown in FIGS. 1 and 6. The transverse displacement of the carriage 4relative to the chassis 2 gives rise to that of the rocker 7 relative tothe chassis 2.

[0041] Taking the example of twisting that tends to apply the front ofthe boot against the jaw 5 a, slightly before the arrival of thecarriage 4 in an extreme position, the lower tab 9 b of the rocker 7comes into contact with the stop 8 of the chassis 2 and the other tab 9a of the rocker 7 comes opposite a notch 10 a formed in the lower wallof the chassis 2, which results in the rocking of the rocker about itspin 31.

[0042] The convex stop 41 a of the rocker slides against thecomplementary concave surface 40 a of the jaw 5 a until they are nolonger in contact and allow the rotation of the jaw 5 a. At this point,through the action of the boot 60, the jaw 5 a rocks about its pin 32 a,as shown in FIG. 10. This jaw will completely withdraw, i.e. pass belowthe upper surface of the chassis 2 in order to release the boot.

[0043] Once the boot has been released, the jaw 5 ais returned, eitherby an adapted form of the surface 43 a or by a spring (not shown), toits boot-holding position. The carriage 4 is entrained toward itsintermediate position through the action of the piston 3, and the tab 9a, abutting against the end of the notch 10 a, brings the rocker 7 intoits original position, shown in FIG. 7. The binding is then once againready to receive a boot.

[0044] In the event of the safety release of the binding in a rearwardfall, the front of the boot 60 rises. This rotational movement takesplace against the action of the piston 3 on the carriage 4, which,subject to the forces of the springs 16 a and 16 b, exerts an action ofcontact of its faces 21 a and 21 b on the faces 20 a and 20 b of thecarriage, which tends to bring the carriage into its stable positionshown in FIGS. 1 and 3.

[0045] As soon as the carriage has pivoted by a certain angle about itspin 35, the jaws emerge from their complementary forms 61 a and 61 bmade on either side of the boot, in the sole.

[0046] As soon as the boot has been released, the carriage 4 is returnedto its stable position through the action of the piston 3 on thecarriage, and the binding is then once again ready to receive a boot.

[0047] In a variant of the embodiment previously described, the support11 is slidably connected to the chassis 2. This slide-type connectionmay be achieved by two complementary dovetail forms with an axistransverse to the binding.

[0048] It is also possible to envisage connecting the carriage and ablade by means of a pivoting connection of transverse axis, the bladebeing itself in pivoting connection with the chassis 2 about a verticalaxis sufficiently far from the jaws for the movement of the carriagebetween its two extreme positions to be able to be similar to atranslational movement or to the movement undergone by the front of theboot relative to the ski during release on account of twisting.

[0049] Slopes 20 a and 20 b on the carriage 4 and complementary slopes21 a and 21 b on the piston 3 may be produced that are not symmetric, soas to obtain binding release stiffnesses that are different depending onwhether twisting takes place toward the inside or toward the outside ofthe foot.

[0050] As instances of release of the front binding in the event oftwisting or rearward fall take place against the action of the sameelastic means, it is necessary to choose the value of the slopes and ofthe tapers of the piston and of the carriage so as to obtain asatisfactory release stiffness relationship.

[0051] Release of the boot from the ski during a forward fall takesplace by means of the safety release of the rear binding, which mayconsist of a conventional heelpiece.

What is claimed:
 1. A front binding (1) of a gliding device, comprisingtwo jaws (5 a, 5 b) holding a boot (60) vertically and laterally bymeans of their actions on the sole of the boot and articulated on acarriage (4) that is movable in translation between two extremepositions in which the action of the carriage (4) on release means (7,8) gives rise to the release of the boot by rocking of one or other ofthe jaws (5 a, 5 b), the carriage (4) being returned to an intermediateposition by an elastic means (16 a, 16 b), wherein the rocking pins (32a, 32 b) of the jaws (5 a, 5 b) are parallel to the longitudinal axis ofthe binding.
 2. The front binding (1) of a gliding device as claimed inclaim 1, which has two arms (6 a, 6 b) each articulated at one of itsends to a chassis (2), and each articulated at the other of its ends toa support (11) to which the carriage (4) is connected, the fourarticulations at the ends of the arms (6 a, 6 b) forming aparallelogram.
 3. The front binding (1) of a gliding device as claimedin claim 1, wherein the carriage is connected to a blade that is itselfarticulated on the chassis about a vertical axis located to the rear ofthe binding.
 4. The front binding (1) of a gliding device as claimed inclaim 1, wherein the carriage and the chassis are connected by aslide-type connection with an axis transverse to the binding.
 5. Thefront binding (1) of a gliding device as claimed in claim 1, wherein therelease means comprise a rocker (7) connected pivotably to the carriage(4) and having one angular position that prevents the rocking of the twojaws (5 a, 5 b), one angular position allowing the rocking of the rightjaw (5 b) on its own and one angular position allowing the rocking ofthe left jaw (5 a) on its own.
 6. The front binding (1) of a glidingdevice as claimed in claim 1, wherein the carriage (4) has slopes (20 a,20 b) interacting with the slopes (21 a, 21 b) of a piston (3) subjectto the action of an elastic means (16 a, 16 b) in order to return thecarriage (4) to its intermediate position.
 7. The front binding (1) of agliding device as claimed in claim 6, wherein the slopes (20 a, 20 b) ofthe carriage (4) and the complementary slopes (21 a, 21 b) of the piston(3) are not symmetric.
 8. The front binding (1) of a gliding device asclaimed in claim 1, wherein the carriage (4) pivots against the actionof an elastic means (16 a, 16 b) about a pin (35), transverse to thebinding, located in front of the jaws (5 a, 5 b) in order to allow theboot (60) to be released from the jaws (5 a, 5 b) when the front of theboot (60) rises.
 9. The front binding (1) of a gliding device as claimedin claim 8, wherein the carriage (4) has slopes (20 a, 20 b) interactingwith the slopes (21 a, 21 b) of a piston (3) subject to the action of anelastic means (16 a, 16 b) in order to return the carriage (4) to itsintermediate position.
 10. The front binding (1) of a gliding device asclaimed in claim 9, wherein the slopes (20 a, 20 b) of the carriage (4)and the complementary slopes (21 a, 21 b) of the piston (3) are notsymmetric.
 11. The front binding (1) of a gliding device as claimed inclaim 9, wherein the piston (3) and the carriage (4) have complementarytapers so that the action of the elastic means (16 a, 16 b) on thepiston (3) makes it possible to return the carriage (4) about thetransverse pin (35) to a position in which the boot (60) is held. 12.The front binding (1) of a gliding device as claimed in claim 10,wherein the piston (3) and the carriage (4) have complementary tapers sothat the action of the elastic means (16 a, 16 b) on the piston (3)makes it possible to return the carriage (4) about the transverse pin(35) to a position in which the boot (60) is held.